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Arm Holdings

CPU instruction-set and IP licensor underpinning most custom AI-server silicon

Arm licenses the CPU instruction-set architecture and core IP (Neoverse for servers) that underpins Nvidia Grace, AWS Graviton, Microsoft Cobalt, Ampere, and most custom AI-server CPUs, making it a near-ubiquitous foundation of the AI stack. Majority-owned by SoftBank, Arm collects royalties on billions of chips and in 2025 pushed toward Compute Subsystems (CSS) and its own chip ambitions. Its IP is a soft chokepoint: nearly every non-x86 accelerator host CPU depends on an Arm license.

Business

CPU ISA + Neoverse server core IP

Powers

Grace, Graviton, Cobalt, Ampere CPUs

Owner

SoftBank (majority)

2025 push

Compute Subsystems (CSS), own silicon

How it fits the stack

Arm Holdings with what it depends on (above) and what it feeds (below). The figure renders as a crawlable diagram and upgrades to an interactive 3D graph as it scrolls into view.

usesused byusesused byusesusesusesusesusescompetes withcompetes withpartners withdesignsArm HoldingsChipsNvidiachokepointSynopsyschokepointAmazon Web Services(AWS)Ampere ComputingFujitsu (Fugaku /MONAKA / Arm HPC)Google Cloud (GCP)Meta (AIInfrastructure)Microsoft AzureAMDTenstorrentTSMC (TaiwanSemiconductorManufacturing Company)Arm Neoverse / CSSserver IP
Arm HoldingsDepends on ↑Feeds ↓Related

Arm Holdings in the AI stack. Arm Holdings with its immediate upstream dependencies (top) and downstream dependents (bottom) in the AI value chain. Hover a node in 3D, or read the full relationships below.

Graph data (text) — 13 entities, 13 relationships
  • Arm Holdings —uses→ Nvidia
  • Arm Holdings —used by→ Synopsys
  • Amazon Web Services (AWS) —uses→ Arm Holdings
  • Ampere Computing —used by→ Arm Holdings
  • Ampere Computing —uses→ Arm Holdings
  • Fujitsu (Fugaku / MONAKA / Arm HPC) —uses→ Arm Holdings
  • Google Cloud (GCP) —uses→ Arm Holdings
  • Meta (AI Infrastructure) —uses→ Arm Holdings
  • Microsoft Azure —uses→ Arm Holdings
  • Arm Holdings —competes with→ AMD
  • Arm Holdings —competes with→ Tenstorrent
  • Arm Holdings —partners with→ TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company)
  • Arm Holdings —designs→ Arm Neoverse / CSS server IP